Warner exit brings scramble

Bayh may be big winner in new presidential field.

Bayh may be big winner in new presidential field.

October 13, 2006|CHRIS CILLIZZA Special to The Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's decision to bow out of the 2008 Democratic presidential race Thursday left the remaining candidates scrambling to fill the ideological and electoral void left by the candidate long considered among a leading alternative to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid. The most obvious Democrat to benefit from Warner's surprise announcement, in the view of many party strategists, is Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who cleared his schedule Thursday to make phone calls to donors and party activists who tentatively had signed on with Warner for 2008 and are now free agents. Warner's anticipated campaign was to be built around the notion that in an age of polarized politics many voters were eager for a leader focused on reaching across partisan barriers for solutions to big problems. The former technology executive talked relentlessly about his experience in Virginia, where he won a state where Republicans had easily won the governorship in the previous two elections. That resume -- coupled with his personal wealth -- had elevated him as a preferred choice among many Democrats who believe that Clinton, D-N.Y., would not be electable in 2008. Clinton has carefully hewed to the ideological center in her six-year Senate career, building a record of working across party barriers. However, there is resentment toward her among many activists in the party's liberal wing due to her 2002 vote supporting the Iraq war. If Warner's decision shifts the 2008 center of gravity leftward, the candidate best positioned to capitalize on the change may be former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004. Since leaving the Senate at the end of that year, Edwards has apologized for his 2002 vote authorizing President Bush to use force in Iraq, and also called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces. Many within Warner's own inner circle, however, believe that his message of centrist politics leaves a void for someone with a similar philosophy. On paper, Bayh most closely resembles Warner in both ideological profile and governing style. Both are former governors of Republican-leaning states who have spent much of their time in office working with members of the rival party to provide solutions. In nearly every speech, Bayh emphasizes that he was twice elected governor of Indiana before being elected -- and re-elected to the Senate. The not-so-subtle message of those speeches is that Bayh represents his party's best chance of making the party competitive in Republican-leaning states.